Karen Massey wins the 2020 Diana Brebner Prize

Clearly, I'm behind on my information, having discovered only today through reading Arc Poetry Magazine #95 (summer 2021) that Ottawa poet and above/ground press author Karen Massey won the annual Diana Brebner Prize last October (I'm completely willing to blame Covid-distractions on all of this) for the "best poem written by a National Capital Region poet, who has not yet published in book form." The prize was judged by BC writer Susan Musgrave. A belated congratulations! Musgrave selected Karen's “Mary Oliver in the Hereafter” for the $500 grand prize; Dessa Bayrock’s “What Do You See” was named the honourable mention for this year’s prize.

Here’s what Susan Musgrave had to say about “Mary Oliver in the Hereafter”:

First of all, I loved the title. And then I loved the first line. And then…anon. I like the Big Philosophical Questions the poem asks but doesn’t answer. That’s what a good poem will do. It doesn’t give you any answers, just unanswerable questions. I also love the way the poem uses abstractions — hope, joy — but renders them concrete. By the time I get to the last line, I feel lighter, the grass smells sweeter.

Karen Massey's poetry has been published online and in anthologies and journals in Canada, the United States and the UK, including Aesthetica, Arc, subTerrain and experiment-o. She has two chapbooks-to-date with above/ground press, Bullet (1999) and STRANGE FITS OF BEAUTY & LIGHT: Erasure Poems from Archibald Lampman’s Sonnets (2014), and she was part of the anthology Decalogue: Ten Ottawa Poets (Chaudiere Books, 2006). And Karen isn't the first above/ground press author to win such, as Marilyn Irwin won the same prize back in 2013, and natalie hanna had an honourable mention in 2019!

And if such prompts, they are currently taking poems for this year's competition! Pay attention!

some author activity: Joseph, mclennan, Moore, MacEachern + Dowling,

Alexander Joseph was interviewed for Boulder Jewish News; rob mclennan has posted a new poem to his blog, and another at Watch Your Head, and a further at Train : a poetry journal; Nathan Alexander Moore is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Jessi MacEachern participates in the "12 or 20 questions" interview series; and Sarah Dowling is co-editing (with Jane Malcolm) a special issue of Amodern, tentatively titled "Body and/as Procedure," and seeks critical papers!

periodicities : a journal of poetry and poetics

announcing: periodicities : a journal of poetry and poetics 
edited and lovingly maintained by rob mclennan

periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics was founded in March 2020 by rob mclennan as a curious extension of above/ground press, as well as an extension of some of the work of the twelve issues of the online seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics, edited by rob mclennan (2008-2018), and the six issues of Poetics.ca, edited by rob mclennan and Stephen Brockwell (2003-2007). Both journals have dropped off the internet due to issues with the web host, which prompted the creation of a new online journal.

periodicities is open to submissions of previously unpublished poetry-related reviews, interviews and essays. Please send submissions as .doc with author biography to periodicityjournal@gmail.com

For the time being, submissions of previously unpublished poetry will be by solicitation-only, with the exception of translated works (which you should very much send along).

The first posts are already scheduled for April 1, 2020! Please consider submitting a poetry-related book or chapbook review or essay, or a poetry-related interview. Or follow us on Twitter to keep track! There is a lot of exciting action afoot!

announcing: THE NELSON BALL PRIZE

At the most recent Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market, I was handed this flyer by Stuart Ross:

We are pleased to announce the creation of the Nelson Ball Prize, an annual award honouring the legacy of Canadian poet, publisher, and bookseller Nelson Ball (1942-2019) [see my obituary for him here]. Nelson was renowned for his poetry of observation and his quiet, steady support of Canadian writers as a bookseller and a publisher of literary magazines, chapbooks, and ephemera.

The Prize runs in three-year cycles. In years one and two, it is awarded for a published work (any size)—by a Canadian poet and published by a Canadian publisher in the previous two calendar years—that features “poetry of observation,” as chosen by two volunteer judges. In year three, the Prize recognizes a Canadian who has made a significant, under-the-mainstream-radar contribution to Canadian literature, as selected by two volunteer judges.

The inaugural Prize, $1,000 and a certificate, will be awarded in 2020 to the Canadian author of a publication issued in 2018 or 2019. Canadian publishers are encouraged to submit three copies of their nominated publication(s) by March 30, 2020, to The Nelson Ball Prize, c/o 3-300 Division Street, Cobourg, ON, K9A 3R3. Please include a statement confirming that the author is Canadian. The winning publication will be announced in fall 2020.

We are actively seeking patrons to help fund The Nelson Ball Prize. If you are able to make a onetime or annual contribution in Nelson Ball’s memory, please contact James McDonald and Stuart Ross at nelsonballprize@gmail.com

There is also an upcoming gathering for the late great poet in Toronto, on December 1, 2019. See here for details.

❡ Call for submissions to the 2019 bpNichol Chapbook Award ❡

from the Meet the Presses website:

The bpNichol Chapbook Award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry in English published in chapbook form within Canada. The prize is awarded to a poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. The author receives $4,000 and the publisher receives $500. Awarded continuously since 1986, the bpNichol Chapbook Award is currently administered by the Meet the Presses collective.

Chapbooks should be not less than 10 pages and not more than 48 pages. The chapbooks must have been published between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year (2018), and the poet must be Canadian.

Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of eligible chapbooks. Translations into English from other languages are eligible.

Submissions must be sent by Canada Post or courier (and not hand-delivered to a Meet The Presses collective member) and include a completed submission form or accurate facsimile (download the bpNichol Award Submission Form 2019), a brief C.V. of the author, including address, telephone number, and email address. Publisher contact information (contact person, mailing address, email address, and telephone contact) must also be included. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

The opening date for receipt of submissions is Feb. 1, 2019, and they will be accepted until May 31, 2019. If submission confirmation has not been received by email by June 30, 2019, please send a query to Beth Follett at: feralgrl[at]interlog[dot]com.

Send submissions to:
Meet the Presses / bpNichol Chapbook Award
113 Bond Street, St John’s NL A1C 1T6

*

Chapbooks written by members of the Meet the Presses collective are ineligible for the award. Authors of chapbooks published by members of the collective remain eligible for the award.

some author activity: Notley, Marshall, Schmaltz, hanna + Earl,

Alice Notley is interviewed in the "12 or 20 questions" series; forthcoming author Sara Renee Marshall is interviewed over at poetry mini interviews; Eric Schmaltz will be editing an anthology of concrete and visual poetry for Knife Fork Book and is seeking submissions; and natalie hanna has some new work up at Canthius, as does Amanda Earl.

❡ Call for submissions to the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award ❡

❡ Call for submissions to the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award ❡

The bpNichol Chapbook Award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry in English published in chapbook form within Canada. The prize is awarded to a poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. The author receives $4,000 and the publisher receives $500. Awarded continuously since 1986, the bpNichol Chapbook Award is currently administered by the Meet the Presses collective.
Chapbooks should be not less than 10 pages and not more than 48 pages. The chapbooks must have been published between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year (2016), and the poet must be Canadian.

Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of eligible chapbooks. Translations into English from other languages are eligible.

Submissions must be sent by Canada Post or courier (and not hand-delivered to a Meet The Presses collective member) and include a completed submission form or accurate facsimile (download the 2017 Submission Form), a brief C.V. of the author, including address, telephone number, and email address. Publisher contact information (contact person, mailing address, email address, and telephone contact) must also be included. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

The closing date for the 2017 bpNichol Chapbook Award is May 31, 2017. Submissions must be received by this date. If submission confirmation has not been received by email by June 30, 2017, please send a query to Beth Follett at: feralgrl@interlog.com.

Send submissions to:
Meet the Presses / bpNichol Chapbook Award
113 Bond Street, St John’s NL A1C 1T6

*
Chapbooks written by members of the Meet the Presses collective are ineligible for the award. Authors of chapbooks published by members of the collective remain eligible for the award.

bpNichol Award Call for Submissions‏

❡ Call for submissions to the 2016 bpNichol Chapbook Award ❡

The bpNichol Chapbook Award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry in English published in chapbook form within Canada. The prize is awarded to a poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. The author receives $4,000 and the publisher receives $500. Awarded continuously since 1986, the bpNichol Chapbook Award is currently administered by the Meet the Presses collective.

Chapbooks should be not less than 10 pages and not more than 48 pages. The chapbooks must have been published between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year (2015), and the poet must be Canadian.

Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of eligible chapbooks. Translations into English from other languages are eligible.

Submissions must be sent by Canada Post or courier (and not hand-delivered to a Meet The Presses collective member) and include a completed submission form or accurate facsimile (download the 2016 Submission Form from our web site: https://meetthepresses.wordpress.com/bpnichol-chapbook-award/), a brief C.V. of the author, including address, telephone number, and email address. Publisher contact information (contact person, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone contact) must also be included. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

The closing date for the 2016 bpNichol Chapbook Award is May 31, 2016. Submissions must be received by this date. If submission confirmation has not been received by e-mail by June 30, 2016, please send a query to Beth Follett at: feralgrl@interlog.com.

Send submissions to:
Meet the Presses / bpNichol Chapbook Award
113 Bond Street, St John’s NL A1C 1T6

some author activity: Irwin, Best, timewell, Trivedi + Abel,

Marilyn Irwin has a poem featured on the Matrix Magazine website; Ashley-Elizabeth Best is interviewed over at Kingstonist; lary bremner/timewell has a new photo album up at the Kootenay School of Writing website; Amish Trivedi has a blog; and Jordan Abel is seeking submissions for a special issue of filling Station magazine, "Experimentation in First Peoples' Art and Literature."

And we'll see you at The Fisher Fine and Small Press Fair today at the University of Toronto, yes?

Make Contact: Circulating Small and Micro Press Poetry in Canada

Congress 2015 is being hosted at the University of Ottawa. Colin Martin (University of Calgary) and above/ground press author Cameron Anstee (University of Ottawa) wrote a CFP for a member-organized session for ACCUTE that has been accepted. Full details below (pdf over at Anstee's original link, here), and further member-organized session CFPs available here. Send them your stuff!

Call for submissions to the 2014 bpNichol Chapbook Award!

Meet the Presses has announced their call for submissions for the annual bpNichol Chapbook Award. As they write in today's release:

Interested authors or publishers should submit three copies of a chapbook of poetry in English published in Canada.

Chapbooks should be not less than 10 pages and not more than 48 pages. The chapbooks must have been published between January 1st and December 31st of the previous year (2013), and the poet must be Canadian.

Submissions must be sent by Canada Post or courier (and not hand-delivered to a Meet The Presses collective member) and include a brief C.V. of the author, including address, telephone number, and email address. Publisher contact information (contact person, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone contact) must also be included. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

The closing date for the 2014 bpNichol Chapbook Award is March 31, 2014. Submissions must be received by this date. If submission confirmation has not been received by e-mail by April 30, 2014, please send a query to Beth Follett at: feralgrl@interlog.com.

Send submissions to:

Meet the Presses / bpNichol Chapbook Award
113 Bond Street, St John's NL A1C 1T6

Please visit the Meet The Presses website for more information: www.meetthepresses.wordpress.com